New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,640,000 shares, a drop of 13.4% from the February 13th total of 9,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EDU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup cut shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Macquarie cut New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $79.00 to $44.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, New Oriental Education & Technology Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.20.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Stock Performance

Shares of EDU stock opened at $51.97 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.29. The stock has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11 and a beta of 0.47. New Oriental Education & Technology Group has a 1 year low of $44.46 and a 1 year high of $95.88.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in New Oriental Education & Technology Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $297,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $316,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,609,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 592,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,940,000 after purchasing an additional 19,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 99,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,573,000 after purchasing an additional 11,423 shares during the last quarter.

About New Oriental Education & Technology Group

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of private educational services. It operates through the following segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses, Private Label Products and Livestreaming E-Commerce, Overseas Study Consulting Services, and Educational Materials and Distribution.